Bethel Rallies To Help Giggling Pig Rebuild After Devastating Fire

The Giggling Pig in downtown Bethel was destroyed by a fire early Thursday.Photo Credit: GoFundMeA landmark building in downtown Bethel was heavily damaged in a fire early Thursday.Photo Credit: GoFundMeThe landmark building on Greenwood Avenue in Bethel is heavily damaged after a fire early Thursday.Photo Credit: Chris Hoelck

In this edition of "Nyberg," Ann Nyberg talks to Hannah Perry, owner of the Giggling Pig.Video Credit: WTNH News8Owner Hannah Perry laughs with some of the summer campers at The Giggling Pig in Shelton.Photo Credit: Meredith GuinnessSome of the summer campers at The Giggling Pig in Shelton.Photo Credit: Meredith GuinnessOwner Hannah Perry helps a camper at The Giggling Pig in Shelton.Photo Credit: Meredith GuinnessCampers 'ham' it up at The Giggling Pig in Shelton.Photo Credit: Meredith Guinness

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BETHEL, Conn. — The Bethel community is rallying to help a beloved business that brings the arts to children after a devastating fire ripped through its space early Thursday.

The Giggling Pig Art and Party Studio at 178 Greenwood Ave. lost everything in the overnight fire. A GoFundMe campaign is now looking to help the business rebuild.

The Giggling Pig opened in Bethel last year and had been offering classes and summer camp in their beautiful space.

But the space is now "filled with water and smoke and everything but The Giggling Pig's outdoor sign has been destroyed," the GoFundMe said.

Although the location is destroyed, owner Hannah Perry and her team said they are relieved that everyone is OK and that residents who live in apartments above the shop are getting the support they need.

"As a mother herself, Hannah realized that her camp and business needed to be back on track, as soon as possible," the GoFundMe says. She found a new space Thursday morning across the street at 4 Library Place and "is working to get her business and campers back on track."

The money raised in the GoFundMe will help to rebuild the inventory so that Perry can relocate and purchase the necessary materials to reopen the summer camp and all programs as early as July 14 at 9 a.m.

The fundraising campaign had collected over $1,000 of its $5,000 goal in its first day.

Perry started the Giggling Pig with her first art-and-party studio in Shelton. She is originally from Yorkshire, England, where she trained as a nursery nurse.

Perry moved to the U.S. in 1999, looking after special needs children in their homes to make ends meet for herself and her young son.

In 2011, she pooled her funds and took a serious leap of faith, opening the first Giggling Pig in Shelton. She opened her second location in Bethel last year.